The Return of U Nu

In the 15 months since he and the army took over as the caretakers of chaotic Burma, General Ne Win has proved an odd sort of strongman. He ruled well, but instead of enjoying his power, he grumbled about his sinuses and complained that there was not enough time to play golf any more. Instead of welcoming publicity, he consented to only one press conference, at which he curtly told newsmen to write whatever they pleased, and then walked out. Last week, with the country in better moral, economic and political shape than ever before, some 10 million Burmese went happily to woven-bamboo voting booths to elect Ne Win's civilian successor. It was just as the general himself had promised three months ago.

In spite of their enforced sabbatical, the politicians had not been idle. From the start, ex-Premier U Nu had the advantage. In the most Buddhist of Buddhist nations, he early won the support of Burma's 50,000 Buddhist monks. He promised that his candidates would "merit admission to the higher abode of Nirvana," regretted the corruption and inefficiency that had brought in army rule, and carefully laid out his ballinatsa, a table loaded with fruits and meats for the spirits to dine on.

He adopted the Buddhist saffron as his party color, and when the Moslems protested against his promise to make Buddhism the state religion, he gently reminded them that it was he who had translated their own Koran into Burmese. And while campaigners enthusiastically shrieked epithets at each other as in the old days ("Epileptic!" "Mange-covered leper!"), U Nu took the line that a victory for his opponents "might produce a third World War."

Last week, as the returns came in, U Nu took a decisive lead over U Ba Swe, once his lieutenant, now his bitter rival, who lost his own constituency. But if Ne Win's army would now step down, it was by no means stepping out of the picture entirely. It has set up a vast network of Solidarity Councils with the motto, "Lightning from the Sky." The purpose of the councils: to take care of such matters as supplying fuel, guarding against floods, and urging villagers to report on anyone suspected of being a Communist or a rebel. Furthermore, through a kind of super PX that just grew and grew in the past year, the army also runs a financial empire that even U Nu would find hard to dislodge. Among its activities: a bookshop, bank, import-export bureau, bus company, electrical-appliance outlets, a fuel-supply firm, a department store, a shipping line, the control of nearly all fisheries, as well as plans to sell everything from shoes to paint to coke.

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